A flaming arrow whizzed past rlin’s left shoulder, almost grazing him if only he hadn’t broken his forward run and swiveled to the side just in ti. However, the danger wasn’t over. After all, a cluster of Hakyun’s pestering rocks lunged at him where he had shifted to, stealing from him the brief mont he had taken to catch his breath.
Maybe he had been way in over his head to request to train against two Mages. He didn’t even have the ti to deconstruct a spell. There was no way he could win against them if things continued the way they were going.
He gritted his teeth, his expression becoming tense.
“What’s the problem, l? Where did all that bravado you had a mont go?” Chima wore a nasty grin as another flaming arrow materialized between his bow and its string, saving him the stress of having to nock it. He pulled and fired. Zero hesitance.
rlin dodged, but he realized that things were going nowhere, and Chima was most likely taking it easy on him. He should have taken it into consideration that Chima had reached Tier II in spell casting already.
lee, my ass…
He had to figure out a way to get over his current hurdle.
Chima and Hakyun’s tactic was rather simple—in fact, it was so simple that they hadn't said a word to each other but understood completely what to do. Chima would fire arrows at rlin to keep him from approaching, and as soon as he dodged, Hakyun would have his rocks try to deal so damage.
The problem was that their simple thod was working so efficiently because rlin—he wouldn’t lie—had kind of underestimated what they could do.
Hakyun, for one, was more than just the rock slinger he had told rlin he was. He could control the trajectory of his rocks, turning them into what could be classified as homing missiles.
rlin had a good feeling that deciphering how that worked was the key to winning the duel. Chima, on the other hand, was clearly holding back, if not he would have been the more troubleso Mage between the two. But as it was, rlin had the liberty to focus on Hakyun.
And that was what he decided to do. First, he had to figure out how Hakyun’s spells worked. It would have been faster if he could just rely on Reader Mage’s description, but his roommates were not giving him any breathing space to do that.
“You guys have good teamwork,” rlin said as he stood up. He shouldn’t be talking, he knew. He was expending valuable energy. He was just really amazed that, despite how much they bickered, they understood each other so well. And, well, he wanted to see if he could steal that mont he was yet to have.
Chima smirked. “Buying ti for your anti-magic, aren’t you?” He nocked another arrow and fired. rlin rolled out of the way, but this ti he was not so lucky. Two of Hakyun’s rocks hit him in the tummy, taking the wind out of his sail and dropping him to his knees. “You must have forgotten that we tead up during the exam. I know your ability takes ti to work.”
“Oh, really?” Hakyun said, surprised. “I was wondering why our spells were still in full effect. That explains it. Ugh… At this rate we won’t get to see any anti-magic.”
“We can see it after he gives up,” Chima replied. “We’re not giving him a chance to use it while this battle goes on, understand?”
“Of course!” Hakyun roared. “I ain’t losing.”
rlin chuckled as he stood up to one knee, the dizziness that had plagued him slowly receding. They were right. He needed ti to use Reader Mage. However, that was not the only ability he had. And…he had been aning to test his newest Perk for a while now. Thankfully, this didn’t need as much ti as Reader Mage to activate.
Hakyun’s rocks hod in on him once again, rlin jumped out of their path of flight, and was t in his new position by Chima’s arrow, which he dodged quite easily by crouching.
In that brief mont, he activated Reader’s Bookmark.
[Perk: Reader’s Bookmark Activated]
[Bookmarks (1): Flash Step (Requires at least 190 milliseconds reaction ti to function)]
[Conditions to function t: Agility Level: Level 16 (190ms reaction ti)]
[Intelligence Level is low; effectiveness will be reduced]
rlin was pleasantly surprised. This was the first ti such a detailed description on what his level ant had been displayed before him. However, he did not have the ti to be amazed, because Chima was back to nocking another arrow.
Really? Only two seconds? Did that guy have sothing against him? And how was he so strong while holding back?
He clenched his chin and ntally requested for Flash Step to be activated.
[Bookmark: Flash Step, Chosen.]
[Bookmark: Flash Step, Activated.]
In that instant, rlin felt his legs lighten, every single description of [Flash Step] as it was in Singularity Mage flooding his head. A move Kieran had created to boost his speed by surrendering himself to his inherent, primal survival instinct. A move so powerful if mastered would render every attack pointless as they wouldn’t hit.
rlin was so pleased he could smile. That move was his now.
The air shimred from the heat of Chima’s arrow as it whistled towards rlin, who nimbly evaded it by shifting sideways a lot more smoothly than he had expected, amazing both him and his attackers.
“What?!” Hakyun shouted. “When did he start moving like that?!”
Chima gritted his teeth. “Just send your rocks at him!” This ti he nocked four arrows at once and released them all at rlin. “Were you joking all this ti?”
That was quite the hypocritical statent.
rlin, however, remained unfazed. Even though the [Flash Step] he was able to use at the mont was a toned down version of the original, it was still effective enough. His late night rereads of Singularity Mage was paying off. And, goddamn, Kieran was really an absolute powerhouse cheat code. He had known, but that didn’t make it any less amazing.
And to top it all off, [Flash Step] was not even close to the absolute abilities the darn protagonist had.
rlin was jealous—jealous that he wouldn’t be able to get even close to what Kieran could do.
But now was not the ti to be feeling down. More arrows were being sent his way. He dodged all of them, though, as well as those stubborn rocks of Hakyun.
By now, he would have been able to close the gap between himself and his roommates if only Chima had not increased the number of arrows he was firing.
On the bright side, rlin was thankful that his Resilience was at a sowhat high level, because he could feel that he still had a long way to go before he ran out of breath.
However, he was not engaging in a battle of stamina here. He had to win. That was all. And, finally, after countless weaves and rolls, he understood how Hakyun’s spells worked.
His first spell, Rock Sling, as he had called it, worked in just the sa way every spell being launched worked. He was simply infusing the rocks with his mana and propelling them forward. However, his second spell, which was the real pest in the fight, was a more complicated one. rlin guessed that what Hakyun did was make his mana act as so sort of magnet, which forced the rocks to hone in on it no matter where they were. But this was supposed to lead the rocks back to its caster, and that was why rlin had been confused at first as to why the rocks kept coming to him instead.
rlin had found out the reason why now, though, and it was because Hakyun always kept one rock close to his location when the others missed; the missile rocks were honing in on the singular rock that was close to him.
He smiled.
“What’s so funny?” Chima growled, no longer wearing his smug smile.
rlin tilted his head slightly. “What’s wrong? Where did all that bravado you had a mont go?”
Chima’s eye twitched and he instantly fired another set of arrows, saying no more. He was fired up. Which was good. Because it would hurt rlin if the lad didn’t take things seriously before he lost. After all, rlin was assured of his victory now.
He dashed forward.
“Wait! What are you doing?! Are you planning to kill yourself?!” Hakyun shouted, surprised at rlin’s actions. After all, arrows of scorching red heat were flying directly at him.
rlin did not dodge the arrows this ti by jumping completely out of their path. He faced them head-on, only turning his body a bit so that they did not strike any vital points. The arrows, four of them, t his skin as they flashed past him, scorching his flesh as a sizzling sound poured into his ears. rlin’s Resilience was not strong enough to counter the pain of fire, he realized that as a numbing pain soared through his nerves and into his brain. But he did not stop. And because of his barbaric action, Chima was taken aback, which stalled him and gave rlin the opening he needed.
At that mont, Hakyun muttered sothing in frustration that rlin couldn’t grasp—most likely a curse word—and sent a wave of rocks towards him. rlin nimbly swerved out of their way and they all missed him—except one. He caught the rock that was ant to stay behind, startling Hakyun, and hurled it towards Chima.
Hakyun gritted his teeth as all his rocks rushed for his teammate. He had no choice here. He imdiately canceled his spell and all the rocks dropped to the floor.
rlin appeared in that instant before Chima like a thief in the night, turning the tides of their duel in his favor. Chima jerked back instinctively, put away his fire bow and tried to conjure up a sword instead.
But…
“Back to your humble beginnings, huh?” rlin muttered with the shadow of a smile as he grabbed Chima’s hands, clamping down on his wrists. “You’re too late, though.”
[Perk: Reader Mage Activated]
[Analyzing spell…]
[Analysis complete]
[Spell: Fire Sword.
Category: Novice, Tier I
Spell Wielder: A-Class Mage.
Spell Description: A spell ford by shaping the fire ford from the coalescing of the elents of oxygen in the air, the mana of the Mage, serving as the fuel, and the heat of the human body.]
[Deconstructing Process: Fire cannot be ford if one of the three requirents of oxygen, fuel, and heat isn’t present. The easiest to banish is fuel. Close off the flow of the Mage’s mana by turning yours into a barrier.]
[Deconstruct?]
[Yes?]/[No?]
Hell yeah!
Instantly, rlin’s mana surged out of his palms and wrapped itself around Chima’s hands, the sparks that had been crackling to life there, forming the silhouette of a sword, vanishing into oblivion.
[Deconstructing…]
[Deconstruction Complete]
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 31.5%/100%] → [36.5%/100%]
[Free Attribute Points received: 5]
[You’re welco, rlin Tyrrell]
The deconstruction had not even taken a second, which was testant to how much rlin had grown.
Hakyun found himself perplexed at the sight, gaping, which caused him to turn into stone where he was, giving rlin the opportunity to close in on him as soon as he let go of the dazed Chima.
A second later, rlin’s hand was placed on Hakyun’s shoulder and a smile etched on his lips.
“I win.”
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